11.11 is Pepero Day in Korea

Woudn’t you know Korea celebrates 11.11 or November 11th.  In the U.S., this is Veterans day, I believe…however, for me, it holds a much more spirititual signifigance…

When 11:11, repeating numbers pop up in your life repeatedly in random places..usually on clocks, watches, digital gadgets, costs of items, your restaurant bill..according to esoteric lore it holds very powerful meanings..

In Korea though, it is a day children celebrate by giving “Pepero” to those they love..friends, teachers, family members.  Pepero are pretzel-like sticks that have been dipped in chocolate. And, just because two of these sticks look like the number 11, it’s become the symbol for November 11th.

All the stores are set up for this with kids buying like mad..and I thought, damn, I’m definitely in the right country this time…

For me, seeing 11:11 has come up at some very important times in my life…just recently it came up when I was on a disasterous date wanting desparately to escape..the date suggested we go to his apt., I didn’t want to but when I saw  “1:11 on the digital car clock, I knew I’d be okay and was.  Later, when he was chatting me up again about going to his apt.  I saw “2:22″ , got out of the car and into a cab home, safe.

Go to cyrstalinks.com for a full explaination. 

“Physical reality is a consciousness program created by digital codes. Numbers, numeric codes, define our existence. Human DNA, our genetic memory, is encoded to be triggered by digital codes at specific times and frequencies. Those codes awaken the mind to the change and evolution of consciousness. 11:11 is one of those codes, meaning activation of DNA.”

“Many associate 11:11 with a wake-up code/alarm as they see it on digit clocks and watches. It can also be seen as a key to unlock the subconscious mind, our genetic encoded memories, that we are spirits having a physical experience, not physical beings embarking on a spiritual experience.

11:11 or derivatives of these numbers, 111 and 11, are digits that repeat in time thus a metaphor for reality as patterns that repeat in time for us to experience. This can refer to the rise and fall of civilizations, our personal experiences and lessons, loops in time. They are cycles of time that create and recreate following the blueprint.”

“11 is a double digit and is therefore considered a Master or Power Number. In Numerology 11 represents impractical idealism, visionary, refinement of ideals, intuition, revelation, artistic and inventive genius, avant-garde, androgynous, film, fame, refinement fulfilled when working with a practical partner. Eleven is a higher octave of the number two . It carries psychic vibrations and has an equal balance of masculine and feminine properties. Because eleven contains many gifts such as psychic awareness and a keen sense of sensitivity, it also has negative effects such as treachery and betrayal from secret enemies.”

I have “11″ in my numerology profile and have always been piqued by the number, loops in time and paraellel universes.

11 represents spiraling twin strands of human DNA moving into higher frequency of consciousness.

11 represents balance.

11+11=22=4=Time. 22 is a Master or Masonic Number.

How Oxford School Functions…

There are four Korean teachers and three native English speaking teachers.  In short, one class has both a Korean and Native teacher.  The Korean teacher is able to make sure the comprehension level as she also teaches her class in Korean.  Each class also has a computer class, not like the computer assisted language programs I studied in San Francisco which are targeted for young adults and up.  These are geared for children starting out with a cute song and a fun engaging video.  Then it introduces vocabulary and a vocabulary test.  Then sentence structure, converstation and a game, ending with a real video game..which Koreans love as gamers.  The best part about the program is that the student is able to record their own voice after hearing the correct word, sentence or conversation.  They can do this over and over, at their own pace until they get it right.  As well, there is a sentence writing function with “tips” where students can also test themselves.  Basically, as a teacher I monitor and check the student’s progresss and take the time to trouble shot problem areas.  Mostly they are on their own.  What I notice is that the younger students really love the computer learning method, while the older students get bored with it quicker. The programs are set for a wide range of ages rather than targeting a smaller range. 

As well, the students aren’t all at the same level of the class.  Students that are more advanced  fly through the program fast and start fidgeting, wanting to surf the net.  These kids know how to use a computer, to configure or make little changes in the program to their liking. 

Overall the students’ knowledge of english is good.  There are exceptions, for example, teens using an advanced level four book with a lower speaking level than that of level one.  This class truly is a challenge, as they are able to understand the material, but their grammar is low and refuse to speak in class.  I’ve attributed it to being a thirteen year old and am looking for ways to inspire them or just plain get through the class.  Another troubled class is one where there’re alot of hard to discipline boys, general trouble makers and clowns which usurp the class.  Transworld did not prepare me for effective discipline methods in S.Korea, quite a different set of circumstances and rules.

Discipline methods are very “old school”, meaning that if a child is misbeaving,  a Korean teacher is summoned to scold them.  I don’t know what she’s saying, but, if they’re scared of her, their ears pull back a bit in frieght.  If students are horribly “bad”, the Korean teacher must discipline them with a stick, which thankfully I don’t get to see.

I’m told it’s quite perfuntory, the students hold their hands out and are hit.  It’s more of a humiliation strategy than pain.  There are other strategies, which the english teachers use, all Korean ispired.  Sending a student out into the hall, holding a chair above their heads, putting a student in a corner or having them stay longer after class is over. 

We’re currently trying to get a school discipline code going rather than leaving it up to individual teachers.

Halloween in S.Korea

At Oxford Language School they have a tradition of recreating Halloween fun for the students.  They decorated the school with whatever they could find, turned a simple classroom into a haunted house, provided a box of costumes, had a picture taking room, a Jack-o-Lantern carving room, a Halloween inspired study room and the Face Painting room.  I was a face painter along with another Korean teacher…felt like the old days when I was hired to paint faces back in New York City in my early days as a dancer working for party starter companies like Chez-zam, Show Stoppers, Purple Pickle People…..

The kids enjoyed it, I enjoyed it….by the way I was the only teacher in costume and make-up….

First Month Teaching

In short, my first month was a bit overwhelming as I’d never taught so many classes in my life..ESL is new to me, having taught a bit at Transworld as part of the TESOL Certication and as a Substitute teacher.  The Transworld Course in San Francisco was an intensive one month long indepth course that covered most of what one needs to know for a career in ESL while providing in school teaching opportunities as part of the learning process.  The course also covered information about working multicultural environments in a progressive manner.  However, I’m finding that this approach does not work with Korean children. 

While there are well behaved students at the school, it just isn’t the norm.  The one roadblock to teaching I’ve found is “discipline”.  I was not prepared for the reality of the majority of Korean children who show a general lack of  respect for the native teachers, talk excessively, don’t pay attention, are tired from going to school all day, only want to play and in general are “wild”.

I was hired by a Recruiter who informed me that I would get a three day orientation/training period.  This didn’t happen, basically I watched two classes and the next day I got a full schedule, started teaching.  I was trained to prepare for classes, without using a core book, creating lesson plans, eliciting rather than “teaching” etc.  I soon learned this method would be impossible, as well, I was told to just follow the book, don’t prepare handouts, don’t write on the board…just keep talking..  At first, I did prepare some lesson plans from scratch but they were too difficult.  The feedback I recieved was that I was moving too fast…

All the students have books and a work/activity book.  So I began just following the book adding some handouts, coloring pages etc.,  from ESL online resources.  It seemed that the children are very accustomed to endless repetition…taking a section of the book’s lesson and learning it by rote, like parrots.

The challenge for myself was not to get bored by this process…in all honesty I felt the students were also bored by it.  So I began to experiment with different performing techniques….which is what I’m good at.  My interest in ESL started because I saw how performance techniques were naturally used.

What do I teach?

I work at Oxford English Language School in Tongyeong, South Korea.  The work hours are ideal 2:00 to 9:00PM Monday thru Friday, teaching six classes a day.  The earlier hours are the younger elementary and beginner students.  The later the hour the more advanced the student.  The bulk of the teaching is beginning english to elementary students.  However, I teach three Social Studies classes to advanced youth and a college level Composition class to teens as well as three Adult Intermediate Conversation classes.

My favorite classes are the Adult Conversation, Composition and a few elementary classes where the students are quite well behaved and just plain smart. 

Back in my own youth I never really liked Social Studies, so it’s not a favorite, however, I’m finding it more interesting as it is teaching content based english which I find more interesting overall.  Some of the students do show interest making it enjoyable.

Five months in Korea so far…

Ready to write about my Korean experience thus far. Why did I wait so long? Ummm..there was lots to do, mostly nothing having to do with being in Korea….